XM And Sirius Announce Plans To Merge

   Just a little bit of business news for you.

  It looks as if  XM and Sirius satellite radio service's are going to merge. This will no doubt raise some anti-trust issues with the the Federal Communications Commission  which  has said once before that the merger would go against the current FCC regulations.

    The deal also has to be approved by both companies shareholders.

   I, for one, do not think that this merger should be allowed until there is more competition from other satellite radio providers.

                           

    NYTimes

“The hurdle here, however, would be high as the commission originally prohibited one company from holding the only two satellite radio licenses. The companies would need to demonstrate that consumers would clearly be better off with both more choice and affordable prices,” Mr. Martin said.

Even if the deal does not face resistance from the F.C.C., it is likely to encounter opposition elsewhere. The National Association of Broadcasters, a trade association for television and radio stations, is already speaking out against a merger.

“In coming weeks, policymakers will have to weigh whether an industry that makes Howard Stern its poster child should be rewarded with a monopoly platform for offensive programming,” the group said. “We’re hopeful that this anti consumer proposal will be rejected.”

 

Technorati tags: XM, Sirius, Satellite Radio, FCC, Howard Stern